Our hands-on experience with the special Summer Game Fest demos on Xbox continues! Today we discuss Sable, Teacup, Lake, Mad Streets, and A Juggler’s Tale.
Sable is a gorgeous exploration game set in an open-world desert. The demo marked the start of Sable’s adventure and I was blown away by its visuals. It reminded me of a more stylized version of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and got instantly hooked on how well the world was created. Exploration is key in Sable and that’s exactly what the demo is all about. It learns you the ropes of controlling Sable as a character and Talthough this definitely needs some more work, the controls did feel pretty solid. It happened a couple of times that I missed my jump or climbed on the wrong obstacle but with some tweaks in the final game, I’m pretty sure the controls will work just fine. That being said, I loved the feeling of exploring the intriguing world while making contact with its inhabitants. I talked to the first nomads I found and they guided me in the direction of my first quest. The game has a relaxing natural flow to it and I can’t wait to see and play more of it later on.
Teacup is a wholesome adventure about a frog named Teacup who’s pretty addicted to… You can guess it… Tea. The adventure starts when the adorable Teacup notices she ran out of tea just days before the tea Spring party. Needless to say, she needs to venture outside in order to find her beloved tea. You get a little help from a handy tea encyclopedia, explaining what kind of tea exists and how you should make it. The demo itself sets the tone for the final product pretty well. In Teacup it’s clearly not about rushing into things, you need to take things as they come and explore the beautifully draw environments while talking to the locals. What I liked most about the demo is the fact that there isn’t any type of rush or competition. Everybody seems extremely happy to see you and the conversation you’re having are as innocent as they get. I see why this game is labeled as wholesome since that’s the perfect way to describe it. Possibly not for everyone but certainly worth giving a try.
Lake is an interesting laid-back game that’s launching this September. It’s pretty far into development and you can really tell when starting the demo. Compared to some of the other demos out there, this one really feels like it’s almost finished and you really notice that extra layer of polish a lot of the other demos are currently lacking. The downside about the demo is the fact that you can’t truly immersive yourself in its relaxing world. The goal of Lake is to live your life as you please and find fit. You play as Meredith Weiss who left her job in software to temporarily take over her dad’s mailing job. Delivering the mail to the people is entirely up to you and you can set your own pacing doing so. It’s an interesting concept that sadly doesn’t really translate that well into a demo. In my opinion, this game has a lot of potential and the quality really shines through. I’m curious to see how it all unfolds if I have some more time to play it.
Mad Streets is a bit of an odd one, to say the least. Since it’s a demo, a lot of the modes were still locked, which makes a lot of sense of course. Instead of a deep dive, the demo offers a quick look at the combat in this game by putting you against a couple of enemies in a typical bar fight. The game uses a physics-based ragdoll approach for its characters, which makes it surprisingly hard to control. Instead of fighting my enemies, I was rolling around over the floor and punching and kicking the air. There’s a grabbing mechanic to grab items or your enemies but it rarely did what I wanted it to do. Not the best first impression here but perhaps it’s getting a bit better in the full game.
A Juggler’s Tale is without a doubt my favorite from the list. You play as Abby, a little marionette that’s attached to you, the player. It all starts off pretty sweet and fun, guiding Abby through an atmospheric town filled with circus acts. The music sets the tone and the constant narration gives you an idea of what’s going on. The first part of the demo is all very joyful and fun but this quickly changes in the second part. It seems like Abby is only truly free while she’s performing an act, after that, she’s locked away in a cage. What I like most about this little game is the fact that the strings also play a crucial role in the gameplay. Abby can’t move if her strings get stuck behind an object, making it an interesting little puzzler. Everything about this game just clicks, from its story to its atmosphere and clever use of the marionette mechanics, this really is one to look forward to. In the short time I spend with the demo, Abby certainly managed to pull the strings of my heart.
